Civ damaged Win2k: doesn't boot anymore...

[Civivist]

Hi,

After upgrading my pc with (old) specs (see also http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=137115)

Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.00GHz, ~2.0GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 100/200
Display Memory: 32.0 MB
OS: Win2k

with a NVIDIA GF 6600 GT (128MB) and another 512 MB of RAM, my lagging problems were solved, everything ran perfectly (intro movies not stuttering anymore, map scrolling very smooth on high displ. quality)...

... until the game started crashing. Therefore I degraded my Nvidia drivers as suggested in another thread. This didn't help that much because after 15 minutes or so I got a "blue screen" (error in ntoskrnl.exe). Since then I cannot boot Win2k anymore... Not even in safe mode! Get a blue screen again ("Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate") or the system reboots or just hangs... While attempting to start windows scandisk told me there were some harddisk problems (corrupted files) and fixed this. Still doesn't boot..

What should I do? Booting with the original win2k setup cd and choosing the repair function crashes... Using ordinary bootdisks doesn't work because I cannot access my NTFS partitions with them...

Any suggestions?? Of course, format and reinstall will work but there should be a better way...

Anyway, it seems civ4 (or the nvidia drivers) can cause some serious damage to your system! That's a bad thing.

 

[snepp]

I would suggest running a hard drive diagnostics program.

 

[Civivist]

I would suggest running a hard drive diagnostics program.

Hi,

The harddisk is OK, but apparently the registry has been damaged. I don't seem to have any options to restore an older copy, because there aren't any. (Why not? I thought windows always kept 2 copies of the registry for the case one gets damaged..., where are they?)

Microsoft seems to have a registry repair tool for which I have to make 6 boot floppies, but my computer doesn't even have a floppy drive! I do have a cardreader however, but even with brute force I do not manage to get a floppy in there.

 

[Civivist]

Fixed it! With some tricks I've been able to use Microsofts registry repairer anyway.

But I do not dare to start Civ anymore... Will wait for the patch.

 

[Old Dood]

Microsoft seems to have a registry repair tool for which I have to make 6 boot floppies, but my computer doesn't even have a floppy drive! I do have a cardreader however, but even with brute force I do not manage to get a floppy in there.

Sorry to hear of your problems. This why I am Old School. I always pay the $30.00 for a floppy drive. People make fun of me because I do this...can't beat a floppy when you need one.

 

[Thomas Davie]

Check in your BIOS and see if you've got the capability to boot from a card. I keep a 512 mb card that's bootable with a bunch of utilities on it. Similarly, see if you can boot from a CD and do a search for something called Bart PE. Great tool.

Tom

 

[Civivist]

Check in your BIOS and see if you've got the capability to boot from a card. I keep a 512 mb card that's bootable with a bunch of utilities on it. Similarly, see if you can boot from a CD and do a search for something called Bart PE. Great tool.

Tom

I already managed to fix the registry by using a bootable CD and the tool from Microsoft. Thanks for your help anyway, it will be handy for the next time something goes wrong! Bart PE seems a very usable tool indeed.

 

[venn]

Bad coincidence, but unrelated to Civ 4. So play it.

 

[Civivist]

Bad coincidence, but unrelated to Civ 4. So play it.

When Civ4 is able to crash the OS, with as result corruption of files and the registry I wouldn't say it is unrelated. Actually, I've been running Win2k for 5 years now, and this is the first time that a program gives me a blue screen of death.

But you could be right that it is not civ4's fault but nvidia's (the problems started after upgrading my video card), but firaxis should at least have been aware of those problems.

I'll wait for the patch.

 

[venn]

Good idea, waiting for the patch. I know many of us couldn't do it. As bug ridden as it is, this is some addictive piece of code.

 

[Civivist]

Good idea, waiting for the patch. I know many of us couldn't do it. As bug ridden as it is, this is some addictive piece of code.

Well, maybe that's why I'm checking this forum and the firaxis website more than 20 times a day to see if someone's found a solution for the problems so that I can finally play. And maybe that's why I spent over $200 on new hardware yesterday. And worse of all... maybe that's why I am delaying all kinds of things that I should've done days ago...

This is unhealthy. Where's my selfdiscipline.

 

[venn]

What I don't get is... why aren't you playing it then? After spending the money, getting the drivers updated...
Just do it!
In case you're worried your system will crash again, get a hold of acronis true image or some other drive cloning program, backup you windows installation and there you go!

 

[nlande]

I am having pretty much the same issue, it is bluescreening everytime i try to boot the computer, but with XP instead of 2k. How did you fix it?

 

[Loopy]

Therefore I degraded my Nvidia drivers as suggested in another thread.
.
.
.
Anyway, it seems civ4 (or the nvidia drivers) can cause some serious damage to your system! That's a bad thing.

It wasn't CIV or the drivers that caused the damage to your system. Rather, it sounds like you messed up your Windows install when you tried "degrading" your NVidia drivers. It can be tricky maintaining a nearly 6 year old OS. On a side note, one of the nice additions to XP over 2K is the ability to rollback drivers. You probably would have run into the same registry issues had you tried the same steps without installing CIV. A Firaxis patch would only solve the problem with CIV crashing, not your registry headaches. Granted, those crashes were "Firaxis' fault", but being unable to boot was a user induced Windows issue -- not a game install issue.

On a side note, based on Bart's PE, I really, really like Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.

nlande, if your blue screening is from a corrupted registry, I'd suggest you read Microsoft's suggestions.

I'm guessing the tool Civivist used for Win2K was this one.

 

[gunnergoz]

I'm with Loopy on this; rolling back drivers can be a nightmare on older systems when you are not sure of what files are being deleted and what are being installed. That's not the game's fault although it has it's own problems, nuking your OS is not one of them. Glad you got it fixed, though.